A r G o

Summary: When his plans to rescue Calypso ended in disaster, Leo Valdez has been more alone than ever. His only distraction: working on the Argo II. Then, one night, she appears. A girl whose name is Argo.

Chapter 1: The stranger

A r G o

Chapter one: The stranger

The lashing rain just about matched Leo Valdez's mood. Pooling on the ground, mixing with the leaves and the mud, it provided what was, quite frankly, an utterly depressing atmosphere to the forest trail to bunker nine. But then again, since that, the route had always been depressing, rain or shine. All because of a single immortal girl who broke Leo's heart. After preparing for months, the son of Hephaestus had finally managed to do the impossible; reach Ogygia twice. But, on his arrival, it wasn't the joyful reunion he had expected. He found Calypso in her cave, tending to someone. Another demigod, lost during the war. And that was it. All it took to force him from the island, vowing never to return. One sight.

And now he was alone.

To distract himself from the pain of heartbreak, Leo threw himself into work, trudging through the forest to the secret underground bunker where his item of work resided. The Argo II. After the dramatic conclusion to the war with Gaea, the flying ship had been unused, left in the bunker, but the son of Hephaestus wasn't giving up on his creation. Instead, he devoted most of his time into upgrading everything upon the ship; the oars, the hull, even the dragon masthead, Festus.

Seeing the comforting shape of the rock that guarded the entrance to the Bunker, shielding one hand with the other from the rain, Leo let a small flame jump to life on the palm of his hand, pressing the heat to the secret door, and stepped into the dark, yawning entrance, shaking his hair free of rain. Sighing, he walked towards the dim glow at the end of the tunnel, and surveyed the lightly shining form of the Argo II resting peacefully in the middle of the huge, cavernous room. Moving over to an occupied workbench, he picked up some tools and began to work on a project he had started a few weeks ago; a machine that would manipulate the mist around the Argo II to make it appear as anything he felt like. Tweaking experimentally with some wires, he took a deep breath and switched the 'on' button. A large explosion rocked the room, and Leo plunged for cover under a bench as shards of metal spun through the air, sparks falling to the ground like rain.

"Not doing that again…" He grumbled to himself, hauling out from under the table, and studying the damage. Sighing in relief, he realised that the funnel was the only thing to have exploded, so he found a replacement part and began fitting it into place before disconnecting some more wires, spotting the problem. Preparing to duck out of the way, he flicked the machine back on and grinned as it began churning out a wispy white substance. Fingers flying quickly over the keypad on the side, he held a wrench inside the Mist and laughed as it changed into a cheeseburger right in front of his eyes. He hit it off the table experimentally and snorted as it made a loud metal clanging sound.

"Metal burgers…" He mused to himself, grinning slightly.

"Could come in handy…" Flicking the power of the machine off, he picked it up, marvelling at how heavy it was. For such a complicated device, it looked surprisingly unremarkable, a small, celestial bronze box, wires sticking out of the sides, a small funnel protruding from one side, a small keypad, taken from an old 'Blackberry' phone moulded into one side. It still weighed what, it Leo's mind, was far too much. Hauling it up to the deck, he pulled a wrench (non-cheeseburger) from his tool-belt and began to fix the device onto the railing next to Festus, who clicked happily in Morse code to him. Tapping out a swift reply with one hand, he continued to fix the machine- the 'Mist Machine' as he had very creatively named it- to the railing. Festus peered at it curiously, then snapped his glinting head up as a thunderous crash split through the air. Leo gripped tightly onto the rail as the deck shook, and the bronze masthead gave a startled creak, a plume of fire flickering briefly from its jaws. Scanning the deck, the son of Hephaestus' eyes widened as he caught sight of a gaping hole, smoking lightly, torn in the planks of the deck. Raising his wrench defensively, Leo edged towards the hole, and peered over cautiously into it. He let out a gasp as he saw that the hole had also ripped through the floor of Jason's old cabin, ending in the engine room, where something nestled, curled up tight, smoke curling from its form, lying on the floor.

"What the…" He trailed away, and motioning for Festus to be silent, he raised the wrench again, feeling the metal heat up as flames licked apprehensively over his hands. Running down to the stairs, Leo burst into the engine room and scanned the situation.

The thing on the floor was a girl.

Leo narrowed his eyes at her. She seemed to either be sleeping or unconscious, probably the latter, due to the mess she had made of the floor. Feeling slightly more secure that a random cyborg or monster hadn't crashed through his ship, he crept closer, and studied the girl more closely. She was strange, that was for sure. Her face was smeared with soot, but Leo could just make out a dusting of freckles over her nose, and she had wavy, copper-brown hair, also tangled with soot, but the weirdest thing was what she was wearing. From what he could judge from a distance, Leo guessed that her dress was plated with celestial bronze, strips of it coating the skirt, a chain-link weave of it covering the rest. Even her shoes seemed to be made of metal; Bronze boots with strange patterns carved into them. Suddenly a shocked exclamation startled Leo, and he looked up in surprise to see the girl's eyes open, a startling, vivid golden colour. The brown-haired boy backed away. The shade of her eyes; it was unnervingly alike to the eyes of someone possessed by an eilodon, a thing he knew from experience.

"Where am I?" Asked the girl, wiping the ash away from her face. She narrowed her eyes at Leo, and pushed herself into a sitting position, the metal plating on her dress clinking softly.

"You're on my ship." He stated, still unnerved by the strange girl who had crash landed through the floor of the Argo II. The copper-haired girl snorted.

"It's not your ship." She stated, folding her arms. Leo gritted his teeth.

"Yes it is."

"No it isn't." This is stupid… grumbled Leo to himself.

"What makes you think that it isn't mine?" He questioned the strange girl, and she rolled her unnaturally shaded eyes as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Teenagers don't have ships." Leo frowned. She had made a good point. He looked around, searching for a good comeback, then spotted it. A golden shaded pistol, hanging at the girl's hip. Smirking, he inclined his head, gesturing towards it.

"Teenagers don't have guns." The Girl folded her arms and pouted childishly.

"Fine. You win." She grumbled, before, putting out a hand to steady herself, she staggered to her feet, metal clinking louder this time. Suddenly, the girl's hand flew to her head, and her eyes widened as she touched the hair. A spark of panic ignited in her eyes and she looked side to side wildly, her breathing rate beginning to pick up pace as she whirled around, scanning the shadows frantically.

"Oh thank goodness!" she exclaimed suddenly, before plunging away and grasping what, at first glance, Leo thought was a lump of metal, but then the girl slammed it down on her head and breathed out a sigh of relief.

Leo's eyes widened. The girl was wearing a helmet crafted into the shape of a dragon, complete with ornate golden horns and gleaming red eyes.

A perfect replica of Festus.

"What the Hades is going on!" Looking upwards and shouting in exasperation to the sky, Leo let his frustration out, calling out to the Gods in anger. He looked back to see Festus-hat-girl staring back at him, one eyebrow raised, an unimpressed look on her face.

"You're weird." She stated simply.

"And you have no tact." Snapped back Leo, letting irritation get the better of him. Festus-hat-girl gave him a smooth, cold 'Shut-up-or-I'll-murder-you-in-your-sleep' look, and tossed her coppery hair over her shoulder.

"Who are you anyway?" Demanded the son of Hephaestus, trying not to show that Festus-hat-girl's cold, golden gaze had seriously scared him. The girl narrowed her eyes in thought, and glanced around herself, she studied her feet, shaking them out one after the other, then moved onto the hem of her dress, tapping her fingers on the metal plating. Then, she moved onto her hands, and let out a small gasp, and Leo, curiosity getting the better of him, leant in to see what she had spotted. He saw it; a small, black, italic scrawl, engraved into the Festus-hat-girl's wrist. He tried to decipher it, but his dyslexia jumbled up the words until they were illegible. He didn't need to read it though. The girl made it clear what they said, and Leo's eyes widened at what she said, shock exploding inside of him.

"I-I think my name is Argo…"

A/N: And the first chapter is done! I hope you liked it, and reviews are greatly appreciated! I won't continue unless I get enough reviews, so send them in! I also need some help deciding where this story will be heading! Along with any comments, just tell me which one of these you would prefer!

Leo X Argo

Leo and Argo are originally friends, then Leo X Argo

Leo and Argo are originally enemies/rivals, then Leo X Argo

Leo and Argo are friends

Leo and Argo are enemies/rivals

Argo X another character (if you want this, please state which character!)

They are the choices, but if you have any more, just add them instead! This fanfic was partly inspired by a doctor who episode I watched, and partly by a drawing I saw on the internet!

Due to the annoying amount of Fanfics I have on the go at the minute, I won't be updating this too often. I'll try to write good chapters to make up for it though!

Catherine Kopf:
Wow! This was a really great story. I really enjoy reading fantasy, so it didn't take long for me to become invested in the book and its characters like Jacob. I really liked your writing style, and it seemed to flow very well. The descriptions that you used for your world were also created n...

zoheusher20:
What more can I say? The writing style and little details drew me into the book and for the entirety of the story I was Juliet. I felt her turmoil and emotions and every trouble or triumph as they arrived. This story was very different and had quite a few little but unexpected twists that made it...

jessiehs:
This was absolutely amazing. I loved how it went back and forth between perspectives. I actually cried at the end I was so happy. This was amazing. I can't even think of another word to describe it. Thank you for writing his.

ernbelle:
When I first started this story I was a little unsettled by all of the information that appears in the prologue, and wasn't sure if I would continue. However, I am very glad I did. The plot was very well thought out and really interesting. There were not any page breaks or markers to acknowledge ...

brettylee:
The narrative is slick yet punchy. Life, Family and Friends I believe is the core message so it’s easy to relate to. It’s surprisingly action packed. The author does a good job at keeping you guessing. Just when you think all is right, whack, the unexpected happens. The dialogue is energetic and ...

LouiseJ2:
I enjoyed the detail you went into with regards to the case. It made the UNSUB appear believable. The crisis in the middle of the story was my favorite part, very dramatic but not over the top. I feel like sometimes pairings can be overdone but I liked that some of the relationships were a little...

aaron10905:
This is undoubtedly one of the best books written on here. I actually unistalled this app until someone told me about this story. I came back not expecting much, just to be drawn into the story and the characters. I would buy this book in real life, as long as another was promised shortly after.

emmaneal74:
I loved this booked. Would definitely buy it when published and read it again. The story flowed in such a way I just couldn't put it down. I was never confused about the characters or their roles in the story which can happen sometimes with so many lead. I'd recommend this to anyone wanting to r...

snowview03:
This is the first book I have read on this app and I loved it! When I read the title I thought about the hunger games, but this novel is so much more. Some book have a comparison between other books that fallow like premises so i will do my own: Arena has the compellingly emotional stresses and t...

Alkira Joan:
Great story, I found it hard to read especially the dialogue. You just need to fix up some spelling errors and the gramma .I enjoyed this book. was a little hard to get though.,.,..,.,.,,..,.,.,, , , , ,.,, , , , , , , ,., , ,.,,,,,

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